When it comes to the 2013 draft, the Colts have traded away a 2nd round pick and conditional 6th round pick to Miami for Vontae Davis, a 5th round pick to San Francisco to select TY Hilton this year, and a conditional 7th round pick to get a couple of linebackers from Philadelphia.

That leaves the Colts with possibly only 3 draft picks in 2013 – a 1st round pick, a 3rd round pick, and a 4th round pick.

So if they want to improve dramatically in 2013, they’re probably going to need to spend in free agency.

Yeah, so unfair, those poor billionaire team owners will barely survive if their teams are forced to spend 90% of their salary cap each year.

]]>By: pj1983ahttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/16/colts-carrying-huge-dead-money-number/#comment-1996783
Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:56:32 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=1268657#comment-1996783Honestly, this is not a horrible situation to be. The Colts have zero expectations this year. They can suffer through cap hell, put an inferior team on the field as a result, and no one but a few delusional fans will care. That’s far better than putting yourself in cap hell in an attempt to be competitive, failing, and looking like complete idiots for doing so (a la the Redskins for the past decade or so).
]]>By: EJhttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/16/colts-carrying-huge-dead-money-number/#comment-1996781
Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:55:38 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=1268657#comment-1996781As if the players don’t get paid well enough already.
]]>By: ialwayswantedtobeabankerhttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/16/colts-carrying-huge-dead-money-number/#comment-1996780
Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:53:54 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=1268657#comment-1996780My take is the Colts have a lot of reasons to be excited:

(1) Andrew Luck: ’nuff said. This guy is the real deal in every way imaginable.

(2) New hire HC Chuck Pagano will be a great coach, who will build a hard-nosed mentality and culture in Indy. My Steelers had to deal with Pagano when he was DC of the Ravens for some time. Trust me, the Pagano move was a GREAT hire that will keep Colts fans for years – that is, if you like smashmouth/no excuses football, like Baltimore and Pittsburgh play.

(3) Freeney and Angerer will be coming back. Mathis is already flexing his muscle at the expense of opposing QBs.

(4) The dead money clears after this year. Seeing as how the Colts are presumably not knocking on the door yet, the dead money consequence loses relevance — since their star is on the rise for the future. Once this dead money clears, the Colts will have an absolute boatload of cap room with which to feed Luck an OL and some skill player weapons. We already saw them bring in Fleener, Allen and a wideout in the draft – so they’ve already gotten started. However, next year is when the quantum leaps commence.

There are other reasons, but those cited above are some key ones. In short, I am very high on buying Colts futures – and Colt Nation should be jacked.